One in a million - Rolls-Royce Trent XWB reaches flight milestone as it stars at Dubai Airshow

November 12, 2017 Photo(s): By Rolls-Royce

The Trent XWB, set to be a star attraction at Dubai Airshow, is flying high as Rolls-Royce celebrates the engine reaching one million flying hours.

The engine, which powers the Airbus A350XWB, the most efficient large aero engine flying in the world today, has achieved that milestone while delivering the best ever widebody entry into service performance, with despatch reliability reaching 99.94% in October and zero in-flight disruption.

A full-scale engine will be on the Rolls-Royce stand (1028) at the Dubai Airshow and promises to be a major attraction for visitors. It first went into service in January 2015 and has now flown the equivalent of 24,000 times around the world.

Dominic Horwood, Rolls-Royce, Director Customers and Services - Civil Aerospace, said: "We are incredibly proud to bring our Trent XWB to the show and celebrate this latest milestone. The engine continues to set new standards of performance and popularity in our industry. Not only is it the most efficient large aero engine flying in the world today, it is also the fastest-selling widebody engine ever, with more than 1,600 already sold.

"We know our customers and visitors to the show love to see engines in real life and we're delighted to have been able to bring a full-size Trent XWB with us."

Trent XWB - incredible engineering by numbers:

The front fan is just under 10 ft feet across (9.8) and sucks in up to 1.3 tonnes of air every second at take-off.

High pressure turbine blades inside the engine rotate at 12,500 rpm, with their tips reaching 1,200mph - twice the speed of sound.

At take off each of the engine's 68 high pressure turbine blades generates around 900 horsepower per blade - similar to a Formula One racing car.

At full power, air leaves the nozzle at the back of the engine travelling at almost 1000mph.